Robyn G Shiels
David Holmes
David Holmes is absolutely correct. The new recordings by Ulster artist Robyn G Shiels are stunning. One of these, ‘Hello Death…’ is set to appear on the soundtrack to a new film from Belfast, ‘Cherry Bomb’. The music has been selected by Holmes and the evocative power of Robyn’s music is set to gain many more admirers.
So far, he has recorded a Radio1 session for Huw Stephens, he has guested on a Los Angeles station Indie 1031 FM and had been playlisted in Spain and Norway. He has released a series of potent records, including the singles ‘Playing Host To Ideas’ ‘We Are Of Evil’ and ‘Two Nights In June’. His 2005 album, ‘A Lifetime Of Midnights’, was awarded an eight star review from the influential Drowned In Sound, and led to a slot at the coveted ‘End of the Road’ festival.
Robyn has supported artists as varied as Cat Power, Van Morrison and Richard Hawley. His music is sometimes described as brooding and intense, but Robyn laughs this idea off. “It’s not dark to me,” he reckons.
He comes from Kilrea, Co Derry. His music carries some of that mindset as Robyn sings about rural feuds, family secrets, fading horizons and inner rage. The critic Greil Marcus once placed Bob Dylan’s folk music in the context of an “old, weird America”, and Robyn is evidently channelled into the Irish equivalent.
His new recordings are more expansive and varied, the result of long hours in Belfast’s Start Together Studios. The original Therapy drummer Fyfe Ewing flew in from Brighton to play drums, while producer-guitarist Ben McAuley worked hard to make the tunes resonate. Danny Todd from Cashier No. 9 and his colleague James Smith also feature. Whistling solos are delivered with fearsome gusto by the author.
Robyn has often carried himself as an outsider, beyond the petty politics of music scenes. That said, he’s highly rated in Belfast and has worked on a special project with Duke Special and was part of the Northern Ireland contingent of musicians who played at the Knitting Factory in New York, March 2007.
Links
Myspace: www.myspace.com/rgshiels
